A writing group member said my characters all sound the same

We were workshopping a short story set in a diner. Someone pointed out the cook, the waitress, and the customer all talked with the same voice. They said, 'Give them each a verbal tic.' I changed one character to always answer with 'Sure thing,' and another to trail off their sentences. It made a huge difference. What's a simple trick you use to make dialogue distinct?

4 comments

4 Comments

anderson.taylor1mo ago

Ever try giving them different sentence lengths?

julia_carter611mo ago

My last attempt at varied sentence length looked like a toddler with a crayon trying to write a legal document. Short bursts, then a long, rambling mess that lost the point completely. I admire people who can make that rhythm look easy. For me, it always feels forced, like I'm counting words instead of writing them.

henryt181mo ago

Yeah, it's a feel thing, not a math problem. Julia's right that counting words kills the flow completely. You just have to read it out loud and fix the parts that sound weird.

susan8115d ago

And I read something from a writing coach once who said the best writers actually do it in their head without even thinking about it, like a built-in metronome. @anderson.taylor, your question about trying different sentence lengths is pretty spot on, but it's more about listening to the natural cadence than forcing a pattern. Doesn't it feel like the more you overthink it, the worse it gets?